Downtown development agency gets new chief

Rebecca Matheny has been named the new executive director of the Louisville Downtown Development Corp., the city's lead agency on most projects involving the center city.

Matheny, who had been serving in the post on an interim basis, previously was the deputy to Alan DeLisle, who left the job late last year to pursue opportunities in his former home state of North Carolina.

Matheny was elevated to the director's post after a national search, the corporation board said.

Matheny's corporation, which receives both city and private funds, does business as the Louisville Downtown Partnership. The partnership includes the Louisville Downtown Management District, which provides contract security and cleanup throughout the center city and is funded largely by a tax levied on downtown properties. The two agencies share office space on Fourth Street.

Matheny "has been heavily involved in every facet of the organization, and her leadership has been instrumental" as the organization has recently gone through several restructurings, said Paul W. Thompson, chairman of the downtown development group's board.

Now on the partnership's agenda are: finalizing a new master plan for downtown Louisville; overseeing implementation of a corridor improvement plan for the East Market Street area; reopening Guthrie Green to traffic; and reopening the sidewalk in the 100 block of West Main Street along Whiskey Row.

The agency also is involved in developing retailing and streetscape improvements along South Fourth Street and helping develop the MoveLouisville transportation plan. Another project is coordinating a plan to convert several major one-way downtown streets to two-way traffic.

Matheny has more than 20 years of experience in urban planning and policy. She worked in Boston for 15 years, after graduate work at Tufts University.

In Boston, she managed redevelopment of affordable housing projects, and worked at the Cambridge Housing Authority.

She came to Louisville in 2003 to work for the Louisville Metropolitan Housing agency and in 2007 joined the Downtown Development Corp. staff.

Matheny "has a deep passion to grow the city's core and make it even more vibrant, and that's the very reason she will make a good leader," said Mayor Greg Fischer.

DeLisle had led the downtown agency since 2009, overseeing the effort to rebuild the retail district along South Fourth, setting up a commercial loan fund for downtown businesses and promoting development of the Main Street bourbon tourism district.

In March 2009, DeLisle and his then-deputy director, Patti Clare, were seriously injured when a stairwell collapsed in a historic Main Street building they were touring.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089. Follow him on Twitter at @sheldonshafer.